US eating habits improve a bit — except among poor

Comments

I lived overseas in a very poor country and saw real poverty where millions of
people literally struggle to eat everyday. A native friend of mine repeatedly
told me he wanted to move to America. I ask him why and his response was, "I
want to live in America because in America poor people are fat." Come to
think of it, I have never seen a poor person who was obese, except in the USA.
In every other country poor people are emaciated, frail and malnourished.

Baron ScarpiaLogan, UT

Sept. 2, 2014 6:32 a.m.

The big challenge is that the poor don't have access to healthy food on two
counts: One, many poor urban areas don't have traditional grocery stores
and the most accessible foods are at fast foods and convenience stores; and two,
healthy food is higher cost and inconvenient.

A new trend is the
"food desert" -- places where nutritious food is scarce. As urban areas
face dwindling economic prospects (think Detroit), grocery stores have left as
well. Studies have found that the poor rely on the dollar meals at fast food
restaurants -- which is driven largely by gov't subsidized corn and other
agricultural products rooted in corn (e.g. high-fructose corn syrup).

Studies have also followed poor people into grocery stores and have found that
the "convenient" packaging of junk food (say, individual-sized chips,
soda cans, or candy bars) becomes an easy way to portion meals over buying
healthier foods (e.g., kale or slabs of meat).

Sometimes a family
may say, we have $10 for dinner and then go to buy 10 dollar meal items. In
short, the poor face key obstacles to healthy eating.

My2CentsTaylorsville, UT

Sept. 2, 2014 4:24 a.m.

I wonder how they conducted this study. Did someone follow a poor person from
the store to their home and watch them prepare the food and what they ate? Or
did they just follow the money of poor people and those on food stamps eating
out all the time and buying pre-mfg meals and tacos? What ever their means of
conducting this study is very flawed and not relative to incomes or social
status.

In fact the poor people who don't have food stamps must
by basic raw foods and home prepare them eat better that people with food stamps
or restaurants where adulteration of edible food is destroyed making it
unhealthy food. Sandwich shops engorge sandwiches with adulterated fillings and
substitute indigestible flavoring and call it nutritious, bunk.

Everything ever thought or taught about food is being debunked every day by
science saying the 4 food groups are the best source of nutrition, nutritionist
are theatrical know nothings. The safe oils and adulterated cooking ideas are
fast becoming notarized lies and falsehoods. I consider Yogurt as excessive junk
eating and unhealthy and excessive to the digestive system that is denying
people of a healthy body.

DN SubscriberCottonwood Heights, UT

Sept. 1, 2014 7:14 p.m.

Come on, Associated Propaganda.

Trying to ling poverty to poor
eating habits and implying some sort of causation is flat out dishonest
reporting.

Perhaps the cause of the poor to eat poorly is the result
of their own bad choices. We teach nutrition in school, so go to school and
learn about it. We provide EBT cards that will buy healthy food, or you can buy
junk food, or in some cases trade teh EBT card for money to buy drugs.

If a person decides to eat right, it can be done by the poor just as much as
anyone else.

No more government programs or massive spending is
needed. In fact, cutting EBT benefits and going back to distribution of surplus
food may actually improve nutrition.